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NEW YORK (AP) — According to Elon Musk, the first human being received an implant from his computer-brain interface company Neuralink over the weekend.
on a monday publish in XOn the platform formerly known as Twitter, Musk said the patient received the implant the day before and was “recovering well.” He added that “initial results show promising neuronal spike detection.”
The billionaire, co-founder of Neuralink, did not provide additional details about the patient. When Neuralink announced in September that it would begin recruiting people, the company said it was looking for people with quadriplegia due to cervical spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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Neuralink is one of many groups working to link the nervous system to computers, efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcome brain injuries and other applications. There are more than 40 brain-computer interface trials underway, according to clinicaltrials.gov.
Neuralink republished Musk’s post from Monday about X, but did not publish any additional statement acknowledging the human implant. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Neuralink previously announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved its “investigational device waiver,” which generally allows a sponsor to begin a clinical study “in patients who meet the inclusion criteria,” the company said. FDA on Tuesday. The agency said it cannot confirm or reveal information about a particular study of this type.
Neuralink’s device is about the size of a large coin and is designed to be implanted in the skull, with ultra-thin wires going directly to the brain. In its September announcement, Neuralink said the wires would be surgically placed in a region of the brain that controls movement intention. The initial goal of the so-called brain-computer interface is to give people the ability to control a computer’s cursor or keyboard using only their thoughts.
On a separate Monday publish in X, Musk said Neuralink’s first product is called “Telepathy” and, he said, will allow users to control their phones or computers “simply by thinking.” He added that initial users would be those who have lost the use of their limbs.
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It’s unclear how well this device or similar interfaces will ultimately work, or how secure they might be. Clinical trials are designed to collect data on safety and effectiveness.
Responding to Musk’s announcement on Monday, Anne Vanhoestenberghe, a professor at King’s College London, noted that Neuralink has now joined a “pretty small group” of companies that have implanted their devices in humans. But measuring success and safety will take time and the disclosure of more information by Neuralink.
“We know that Elon Musk is very skilled at generating publicity for his company, so we can expect announcements as soon as testing begins, although in my opinion true success must be evaluated in the long term, due to the stability of the interface over time. and how much it benefits the participant,” said Vanhoestenberghe, who specializes in active implantable medical devices. She added that there is “insufficient information” to assess the safety of the procedure at this time.
Ungar reported from Columbia, Missouri.
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